Speaker Biography

Dr. Scott Pace

Executive Secretary, National Space Council

Dr. Scott Pace is the Executive Secretary for the National Space Council. The Council is chaired by Vice President Michael Pence. He began this position in August 2017. Dr. Pace was formerly the Director of the Space Policy Institute and a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs from 2008-2017. From 2005-2008, he served as the Associate Administrator for Program Analysis and Evaluation at NASA. Prior to NASA, Dr. Pace was the Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). From 1993-2000, Dr. Pace worked for the RAND Corporation’s Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI). From 1990 to 1993, Dr. Pace served as the Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Office of Space Commerce, in the Office of the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1980; Masters degrees in Aeronautics & Astronautics and Technology & Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982; and a Doctorate in Policy Analysis from the RAND Graduate School in 1989. Dr. Pace received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2008, the US Department of State’s Group Superior Honor Award, GPS Interagency Team, in 2005, and the NASA Group Achievement Award, Columbia Accident Rapid Reaction Team, in 2004. He has been a member of the US Delegation to the World Radiocommunication Conferences in 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2007. He was also a member of the US Delegation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Telecommunications Working Group, 1997-2000. More recently, he served as a private sector advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in 2009, and 2011-17. Dr. Pace was a member of the NOAA Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) and served as a senior advisor to the Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board for the U.S. PNT Executive Committee. Dr. Pace is a former member of the Board of Trustees, Universities Space Research Association, a former Trustee of the Summer Science Program Inc., a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.